Aussie scientist discovers genius use for cigarette butts

An Australian scientist has managed to find value in one of the most feckless of objects – discarded cigarette butts.

Dr Abbas Mohajerani from Melbourne’s RMIT University has developed a world-first method to turn millions of tonnes of cigarette butt waste into bricks.

The invention would reduce pollution and, according to Dr Mohajerani’s studies, make better bricks.

With a massive six trillion cigarettes smoked worldwide each year, it is hoped the discovery would make cigarette butts valuable to brick manufacturers who would pay to have them collected, as glass bottles and rubber tyres have become valuable for other industries.

“We are faced with billions of tonnes of cigarette butts on this planet,” Dr Mohajerani told Triple J’s Hack program.

Dr Abbas Mohajerani has shown that bricks with 1 per cent cigarette butt content can help the environment. (RMIT University) ()

“There are tonnes and tonnes of cigarette butts everywhere in waterways and beaches.”

Dr Mohajerani and his team discovered that adding a small amount of cigarette butts to the clay mix made their insulation more effective and reduced the energy needed to fire them.